Asteroid City (2023)

Asteroid City is a play within a movie about a grieving father and the random people he comes across while being in Asteroid City.

Written and directed by Wes Anderson, who I've grown to appreciate more in my later years. I thought his first movies were pretentious until someone showed me the meticulousness of his films. It is very prevalent throughout the film that every detail was intentional and the pacing of the film is something to be dissected.

Jason Schwartzman plays a different character than I expected him to play after watching the trailer. He was very grounded and the humor was situational rather than wordplay like in his previous Anderson showings like Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.

Scarlett Johansson plays up her acting abilities to play a 1950s actress who has to deal with the climate of the era. She is flawed and knows it, and uses it to her advantage. She hasn't been this good since Lost in Translation.

Maya Hawke is in this film. You might know her from Stranger Things as Robin. She's great in the film and makes me totally forget she's just acting. Perhaps it's because of who her parents are. I look forward to seeing her in the upcoming movie called The Kill Room.

There is so much to unpack with this film it's hard for me to give it a grade. I saw it on Thursday but left some time to gestate in my head where it would lie. I think it's a better film than The Super Mario Bros. Movie for obvious reasons, but I think I enjoyed it less. I'm still going to place it above it though because of how great the film is. Result: A.

Comments

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Joker: Folie à Deux is a comic book musical and sequel to the stand-out hit Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix . I truly believe that Todd Phillips is trolling the comic book community with this film. It's weird, unwatchable at times, and nowhere near the first film. Even standing on its own without having the film be even considered a sequel it fails. It almost feels like WB was just paying him to make a sequel. Joaquin Phoneix doesn't phone it in. He just does what he's supposed to do and delivers a performance. He and Lady Gaga are really the only saving grace. While her rendition of Harly Quinn is nowhere near what was expected for a Joker film she still had a memorable but trying performance. Characters you forgot about come back and a few new ones that don't leave any impact other than to just be there and in the film. You see Harvey Dent but there's nothing to his character, partly at fault for hiring a no-name actor in Harry Lawtey who should stay on TV an

The Wild Robot (2024)

The Wild Robot is a DreamWorks science function adventure film based on the book series by the same name. Written and directed by Chris Sanders, the film feels like what Disney used to put out. The writing hits on similar beats like his other work Lilo & Stitch , The Croods, and How to Train Your Dragon. There is a definite switch from climax one to climax two and I felt more invested in the later third of the film but not so much at the beginning. There was a tad bit of FurnGully's environmental message in the film but the main message of how to be a mother was front and center. Lipita Nyong'o had to carry the film with help from Pedro Pascal and the best cameo of Bill Nighy . She voiced the robot while Pascal was the main supporting character of the fox Fink. I've grown tired of Pedro Pascal but his deliveries were enough for me to ignore my bias'. The worst voice actor was Brightbill's Kit Conner who must have some connection in Hollywood to land the

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Avatar: The Way of Water is the followup to James Cameron's original box office winner Avatar. Continuing Jake Sully's story, now protecting his family from Colonel Miles Quaritch again. Written and directed by James Cameron . The worst parts of the writing probably came from the writers of Mulan, both Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. In terms of direction, there was the expectation that Cameron would recreate some sort of magic of Avatar, Terminator 2, or even Aliens. I think Cameron gave the skeleton of the story and Jaffa and Silver added their own dialogue and beats. Cameron doesn't really write boring movies and I was bored through parts of the film. 3 hours and 12 minutes is a long time to have amazing dialogue and writing. Sam Worthington is back but you don't recognize him since he was barely in the first film except in his avatar form. Most people don't know Worthington. Maybe if you played the Call of Duty Black Ops games as he played Alex Mason. I most

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog